Massena has been through a lot of ups and downs over the years. Alcoa is committed to keeping its aluminum smelters open, but only for so long. Other factories that used to provide steady jobs and good wages shut down years ago. Tom Gramuglia used to own a few of those factories. He’s an entrepreneur who's opened a string of businesses in Massena over the last 45 years. Some worked, some didn’t - but what may be his biggest success is hidden in plain sight. [full story]

The short-term deal to save Alcoa’s operations in Massena is nearing its halfway point. At the end of 2015, New York State gave the aluminum giant $73 million to stay in town. That move saved more than 600 jobs. But it raised eyebrows among people who saw it as a giveaway of taxpayer money.The contract with Alcoa expires in two years now. [full story]

An Indian snowshoe racer was released from Essex County jail on Friday and is staying with a family in Saranac Lake as he awaits a preliminary hearing tomorrow, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise newspaper. [full story]

In this Chippewa fable, the groundhog's children discover that spring has come.Story Traveler is unscripted storytelling from everywhere in the world, stories for the heart to hear and the mind to imagine. [full story]

New York’s health care system is bracing for big changes to the Affordable Care Act. No one knows for certain how it will be altered, but it will almost certainly cost the state a significant amount of money. [full story]

State corrections officers working in prisons across New York have rejected a tentative contract agreement hashed out between their union and state officials. Thousands of those guards work at correctional facilities here in the North Country. [full story]

Additional rain and unseasonably warm temperatures this week further damaged the snowpack, especially at lower elevations in the central Adirondacks, and at the periphery of the Adirondack Park. Winter conditions remain however, and tomorrow we’ll see below zero windchills and some of the coldest weather we’ve seen this winter. Summit windchills today will mostly be in the -30s; tomorrow near -40; and Sunday in the single digits. [full story]

Author R.M. "Rick" Doyon began his writing career as a political journalist on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. That's where he says he honed his listening and "powers of observation" skills. [full story]

President Trump, hoping to overcome legal hurdles, is expected to issue a new executive order on travel and immigration any day. It will temporarily ban refugees and travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries. Trump says the order will improve security. But critics call it a Muslim ban, or at least a step in that direction. That’s because on the campaign trail, Trump did talk about banning Muslim people from this country. “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” the president said in a video posted by the Associated Press in December 2015. In an interview only about a month ago, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News the president asked him how to legally implement a Muslim ban. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been checking in with Muslims who live in the North Country. We wanted to hear what they have to say about this moment we’re in, and what it’s like to be a Muslim in the United States right now. Those who agreed to be interviewed said they feel vulnerable, insulted, and uncertain. [full story]

In a potentially explosive development, an Indian snowshoe racer visiting Saranac Lake for an international competition was arrested on Wednesday and charged with first degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.The arrest of Tanveer Hussain, age 24, was reported by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise Wednesday evening. [full story]